The largest river systems are the Kapuas River, with approximately 1,143 km (710 mi) the longest river in Indonesia, the Rajang River in Sarawak with some 562.5 km (349.5 mi) the longest river in Malaysia, the Barito River about 880 km (550 mi) long and the Mahakam River about 980 km (610 mi) long.

Borneo is also known for its extensive cave systems. Clearwater Cave has one of the world's longest underground rivers. Deer Cave, thought to be the largest cave passage in the world, is home to over three million bats and guano accumulated to over 100 metres (330 ft) high.

Largest cities

The following is a list of urban areas in Borneo by population based on 2008 calculations compiled by The World Gazetteer.[1][2]

1) Brunei: Census of Population 20012) strictly speaking not on Borneo, but on nearshore islands (2.5 km off the main island of Borneo)3) largest city

History

According to ancient Chinese, Indian and Javanese manuscripts, western coastal cities of Borneo had become trading ports, part of their trade routes, since the first millennium.[3] In Chinese manuscripts, gold, camphor, tortoise shells, hornbill ivory, rhinoceros horn, crane crest, beeswax, lakawood (a scented heartwood and root wood of a thick liana, Dalbergia parviflora), dragon's blood, rattan, edible bird's nests and various spices were among the most valuable items from Borneo.[4] The Indians named Borneo as Suvarnabhumi (the land of gold) and also Karpuradvipa (Camphor Island), which includes the western part of the island shared with Sumatra. The Javanese named Borneo as Puradvipa, or Diamond Island. Archaeological findings in the delta river of Sarawak reveal that the area was once a thriving trading centre between India and China from the 6th century until about 1300 AD.[4]

Dayaks, the natives of Borneo in their traditional war dress. Headhunting was an important part of Dayak culture.

In the 14th century, almost all coastal part of Borneo were under the control of Majapahit kingdom as is written in the Javanese Nagarakretagama document (ca. 1365) and it was called Nusa Tanjungnagara. The name of a trading port city in Borneo is Tanjungpura in the Nagarakretagama; the same name written in another Javanese Pararaton document (ca. 1355).[4]

In the 15th century, the Majapahit rule exerted its influence in Borneo. Princess Junjung Buih, the queen of the Hindu kingdom of Negara Dipa (situated in Candi Agung area of Amuntai) married a Javanese prince, Prince Suryanata, and together they ruled the kingdom which is a tributary to the Majapahit Empire (1365). In this way, it became a part of Nusantara. Along the way, the power of Negara Dipa weakened and was replaced by the new court of Negara Daha. When Prince Samudra (Prince Suriansyah) of Negara Daha converted to Islam and formed the Islamic kingdom of Banjar, it inherited some of the areas previously ruled by the Hindu kingdom of Negara Daha.

The Sultanate of Brunei, during its golden age from the 15th to the 17th centuries, ruled a large part of northern Borneo. In 1703 (other sources say 1658), the Sultanate of Sulu received North Borneo from the Sultan of Brunei, after Sulu sent aid against a rebellion in Brunei. During the 1450s, Shari'ful Hashem Syed Abu Bakr, an Arab born in Johor, arrived in Sulu from Malacca. In 1457, he founded the Sultanate of Sulu; he then renamed himself "Paduka Maulana Mahasari Sharif Sultan Hashem Abu Bakr". Subsequently HM Sultan Jamalul Ahlam Kiram (1863–1881), the 29th reigning Sultan of Sulu, leased North Borneo in 1878 to Gustavus Baron de Overbeck and Alfred Dent, representing the British North Borneo Company[6] in what is now the Malaysian state of Sabah. The company also exerted control on inland territories that were inhabited by numerous tribes. In the 19th century coastal areas ruled by the Sultanate in the west of the island were gradually taken by the dynasty of James Brooke dynasty.[7] The Brooke dynasty ruled Sarawak for a hundred years and became famous as the "White Rajahs".

By the 18th century, the area from Sambas to Berau were tributaries to the Banjar Kingdom, but this eventually shrunk to the size of what is now South Kalimantan as a result of agreements with the Dutch. In the Karang Intan Agreement during the reign of Prince Nata Dilaga (Susuhunan Nata Alam) (1808–1825), the Banjar Kingdom gave up its territories to the Dutch Indies which included Bulungan, Kutai, Pasir, Pagatan and Kotawaringin. Other territories given up to the Dutch Indies were Landak, Sambas, Sintang and Sukadana.

In the early-19th century, British and Dutch governments signed the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 to exchange trading ports under their controls and assert spheres of influences, in which indirectly set apart the two parts of Borneo into British and Dutch controlled areas. China has had historical trading links with the inhabitants of the island. Some of the Chinese beads and wares found their way deep into the interior of Borneo. The Malay and Sea Dayak pirates preyed on maritime shipping in the waters between Singapore and Hong Kong from their haven in Borneo.[8] In 1849 James Brooke and his Malays attacked the Sea-Dayaks and wiped out 800 of the 4,000 pirates.

Moreover in the 19th century, the Dutch admitted the founding of district kingdoms with native leaders who were under the power of the Dutch (Indirect Bestuur). The Dutch assign a resident to head their rule over Kalimantan. List of the residents and governors of Kalimantan:

C.A. Kroesen (1898), resident

C.J. Van Kempen (1924), resident

J. De Haan (1924-1929), resident

R. Koppenel (1929-1931), resident

W.G. Morggeustrom (1933-1937), resident

Dr. A. Haga (1938-1942), governor

Pangeran Musa Ardi Kesuma (1942-1945), Ridzie

Ir. Pangeran Muhammad Noor (1945), governor

Since 1938, Dutch-Borneo (Kalimantan) was one administrative territory under a governor (Governor Haga) whose seat was in Banjarmasin. In 1957 following the independence of Indonesia, Kalimantan was divided into three provinces: South Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, and West Kalimantan. In 1958 the province of Central Kalimantan separated from South Kalimantan as its own territory.

During World War II, Japanese forces gained control of Borneo (1941–45). They decimated many local populations and Malay intellectuals, including the elimination of the Malay Sultanate of Sambas in Kalimantan.[9] During the Japanese occupation the Dayaks played a role in guerilla warfare against the occupying forces, particularly in the Kapit Division where headhunting was temporarily revived towards the end of the war.[10] Borneo was the main site of the confrontation between Indonesia and Malaysia between 1962 and 1966, as well as the communist revolts to gain control of the whole area. Before the formation of Malaysian Federation, the Philippines claimed that the Malaysian state of Sabah in north Borneo is within their territorial rights based on historical facts of the Sultanate of Sulu's leasing agreement with the North Borneo Company, is presently an unresolved claim against Malaysia. Several other territorial claims such as Sipadan were resolved at The Hagueinternational courts.

Ecology

Borneo is very rich in biodiversity compared to many other areas (MacKinnon et al. 1998). There are about 15,000 species of flowering plants with 3,000 species of trees (267 species are dipterocarps), 221 species of terrestrial mammals and 420 species of resident birds in Borneo (MacKinnon et al. 1998). It is also the centre of evolution and radiation of many endemic species of plants and animals. The remaining Borneo rainforest is one of the only remaining natural habitat for the endangered Bornean Orangutan. It is also an important refuge for many endemic forest species, as the Asian Elephant, the Sumatran Rhinoceros, the Bornean Clouded Leopard, and the Dayak Fruit Bat. It is one of the most biodiverse places on earth. The World Wildlife Fund has stated that 361 animal and plant species have been discovered in Borneo since 1996, underscoring its unparalleled biodiversity.[11] In the 18 month period from July 2005 until December 2006, another 52 new species were found.

Satellite image of the island of Borneo on August 19, 2002, showing smoke from burning peat swamp forests.

The World Wildlife Fund divides the island into seven distinct ecoregions. The Borneo lowland rain forests cover most of the island, with an area of 427,500 square kilometres (165,100 sq mi). Other lowland ecoregions are the Borneo peat swamp forests, the Kerangas or Sundaland heath forests, the Southwest Borneo freshwater swamp forests, and the Sunda Shelf mangroves. The Borneo mountain rain forests lie in the central highlands of the island, above the 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) elevation. The highest elevations of Mount Kinabalu are home to the Kinabalu mountain alpine meadow, an alpine shrubland notable for its numerous endemic species, including many orchids.

The island historically had extensive rainforest cover, but the area shrank rapidly due to heavy logging for the needs of the Malaysian plywood industry. Two forestry researchers of Sepilok Research Centre, Sandakan, Sabah in the early '80s identified four fast-growing hardwoods and a breakthrough on seed collection and handling of Acacia mangium and Gmelina arborea, a fast growing tropical trees were planted on huge tract of formerly logged and deforested areas primarily in the northern part of Borneo Island. Half of the annual global tropical timber acquisition comes from Borneo. Furthermore, Palm oil plantations are rapidly encroaching on the last remnants of primary rainforest. The rainforest was also greatly destroyed from the forest fires of 1997 to 1998, which were started by the locals to clear the forests for crops and perpetuated by an exceptionally dry El Niño season during that period. During the great fire, hotspots could be seen on satellite images and the haze thus created affected the surrounding countries of Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore. In February 2008, the Malaysian government announced the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy plan[12] to harvest the virgin hinterlands of Northern Borneo. Further deforestation and destruction of the biodiversity are anticipated in the wake of logging commissions, hydroelectric dams and other mining of minerals and resources.

In order to combat overpopulation and AIDS in Java, the Indonesian government started a massive transmigration (transmigrasi) of poor farmers and landless peasants into Borneo in the 70's and 80's, to farm the logged areas, albeit with little success as the fertility of the land has been removed with the trees and what soil remains is washed away in tropical downpours.

Demographics

Borneo has 15,721,384 inhabitants (January 2005) and thus a population density of 16 inhabitants per square km. The population lives mainly on the coast, furthermore in the cities. The hinterland is occupied at most in small towns and villages along the rivers. The population consists mainly of Malays, Chinese and Dayak ethnic groups. The Chinese, who make up 29% of the population of Sarawak and 17% of total population in West Kalimantan,[13] originally migrated from southeastern China.[14] The majority of the population in Kalimantan is either Muslim or practice animism. Approximately 15% of the Dayak are Christian, a religion introduced by missionaries in the 19th Century. In the interior of Borneo are also the Penan, some of who still practice a nomadic hunter-gatherer existence. In some coastal areas of marginal settlements are also found Bajau, who were historically associated with a sea-oriented, boat-dwelling, nomadic existence. In the northwest of Borneo, the Dayak ethnic group is represented by the Iban with about 710,000 members.

There are over 30 Dayak sub-ethnic groups living in Borneo, making the population of this island one of the most varied of human social groups.[citation needed] Some sub-ethnicities are now represented by only 30-100 individuals and are threatened with extinction. Ancestral knowledge of ethnobotany and ethnozoology is useful in drug discovery (for example, bintangor plant for AIDS) or as future alternative food sources (such as sago starch for lactic acid production and sago maggots as a protein source). Certain indigenous Dayak people (such as the Kayan, Kenyah, Punan Bah and Penan) living on the island have been struggling for decades for their right to preserve their environment from loggers and transmigrant settlers and colonists.

Kalimantan was the focus for an intense transmigration program that financed the relocation of poor landless families from Java, Madura, and Bali. In 2000, transmigrants made up 21% of the population in Central Kalimantan.[15] Since the 1990s, violent conflict has occurred between some transmigrant and indigenous populations; in Kalimantan, thousands were killed in fighting between Madurese transmigrants and the indigenous Dayak people.[16]

^Derek Heng Thiam Soon (June 2001). "The Trade in Lakawood Products Between South China and the Malay World from the Twelfth to Fifteenth Centuries AD". Journal of Southeast Asian Studies32 (2): 133–149. doi:10.1017/S0022463401000066.

From LoveToKnow 1911

BORNEO, a great island of the Malay
Archipelago, extending from 7° N. to 4° 20' S., and from 108°
53' to 119° 22' E. It is 830 m. long from N.E. to S.W., by 600 m.
in maximum breadth. Its area according to the calculations of the
Topographical Bureau of Batavia (1894) comprises
293,496 sq. M. These figures are admittedly approximate, and Meyer,
who is generally accurate, gives the area of Borneo at 289,860 sq.
m. It is roughly, however, five times as large as England and Wales. Politically Borneo is divided into four
portions: (1) British North Borneo, the territory exploited and
administered by the Chartered British North Borneo Company, to
which a separate section of this article is devoted; (2) Brunei, a Malayan sultanate under
British protection; (3) Sarawak, the large territory ruled by raja Brooke, and under British
protection in so far as its foreign relations are concerned; and
(4) Dutch Borneo, which comprises the remainder and by far the
largest and most valuable portion of the island.

Physical Features

The general character of the country is mountainous, though none
of the ranges attains to any great elevation, and Kinabalu, the
highest peak in the island, which is situated near its
north-western extremity, is only 13,698 ft. above sea-level. There
is no proper nucleus of
mountains whence chains ramify in different directions. The central
and west central parts of the island, however, are occupied by
three mountain chains and a plateau. These chains are: (1) the
folded chain of the upper Kapuas, which divides the western
division of Dutch Borneo from Sarawak, extends west to east, and
attains near the sources of the Kapuas river a height of s000 to
6000 ft.; (2) the Schwaner chain, south of the Kapuas, whose
summits range from 3000 to 7500 ft., the latter being the height of
Bukit Raja, a plateau which divides the waters of the Kapuas from
the rivers of southern Borneo; and (3) the Muller chain, between
the eastern parts of the Madi
plateau (presently to be mentioned) and the Kapuas chain, a
volcanic region presenting heights, such as Bukit Terata (4700
ft.), which were once active but are now long extinct volcanos. The
Madi plateau lies between the Kapuas and the Schwaner chains. Its
height is from 3000 to 4000 ft., and it is clothed with tropical
high fens. These mountain systems
are homologous in structure with those, not of Celebes or of Halmahera, but of Malacca, Banka and Billiton. From the eastern end of the Kapuas
mountains there are further to be observed: (1) A chain running
north-north-east, which forms the boundary between Sarawak and
Dutch Borneo, the highest peak of which, Gunong Tebang, approaches
io,000 ft. This chain can hardly be said to extend continuously to
the extreme north of the island, but it carries on the line of
elevation towards the mountains of Sarawak to the west, and those
of British North Borneo to the north, of which latter Kinabalu is
the most remarkable. The mountains of North Borneo are more
particularly referred to in the portion of this article which deals
with that territory. (2) A chain which runs eastward from the
central mountains and terminates in the great promontory of the
east coast, known variously as Cape Kanior or Kaniungan. (3) A
well-marked chain running in a south-easterly direction among the
congeries of hills that extend south-eastward from the central
mountains, and attaining, near the southern part of the east coast,
heights up to and exceeding 6000 ft.

Coasts

Resting on a submarine plateau of no great depth, the coasts of
Borneo are for the most part rimmed round by low alluvial lands, of
a marshy, sandy and sometimes swampy character. In places the sands
are fringed by long lines of Casuarina trees; in others, and more
especially in the neighbourhood of some of the river mouths, there
are deep banks of black mud
covered with mangroves; in others the coast presents to the sea
bold headlands, cliffs, mostly of a reddish hue, sparsely clad with greenery, or rolling hills
covered by a growth of rank grass. The depth of the sea around
the shore rarely exceeds a maximum depth of 1 to 3 fathoms, and the
coast as a whole offers few accessible ports. The towns and
seaports are to be found as a rule at or near the mouths of those
rivers which are not barricaded too efficiently by bars formed of
mud or sand. All
round the long coast-line of Dutch Borneo there are only seven
ports of call, which are habitually made use of by the ships of the
Dutch Packet Company. They are Pontianak, Banjermasin, ,Kota Bharu, Pasir, Samarinda,
Beru and Bulungan. The islands off the coast are not numerous.
Excluding some of alluvial formation at the mouths of many of the
rivers, and others along the shore which owe their existence to
volcanic upheaval, the principal islands are Banguey and
Balambangan at the northern extremity, Labuan, a British colony off the west coast of the territory of
North Borneo, and the Karimata Islands off the south-west coast. On
Great Karimata is situated the village of Palembang with a
population of about 500 souls employed in fishing, mining for iron, and trading in forest produce.

Scale, i:8,800,000

English Miles so too

Rivers

The rivers play a very important part in the economy of Borneo,
both as highways and as lines along which run the main arteries of population.
Hydrographically the island may be divided into five principal
versants. Of these the shortest embraces the north-western slope,
north of the Kapuas range, and discharges its waters into the China Sea. The most important of
its rivers are the Sarawak, the Batang-Lupar, the Sarebas, the
Rejang (navigable for more than loo m.), the Baram, the Limbang or
Brunei river, and the Padas. The rivers of British North Borneo to
the north of the Padas are of no importance and of scant practical
utility, owing to the fact that the mountain range here approaches very
closely to the coast with which it runs parallel. In the
south-western versant the largest river is the Kapuas, which,
rising near the centre of the island, falls into the sea between
Mampawa and Sukadana after a long and winding course. This river,
of volume varying with the tide
and the amount of rainfall, is normally navigable by small steamers
and native prahus, of a draught of 4 to 5 ft., for 300 to 400 m., that
is to say, from Pontianak up to Sintang, and thence as far as
Benut. The middle part of this river, wider and more shallow than
the lower reaches, gives rise to a region of inundation and lakes
which extend as far as the northern mountain chain. Among its
considerable tributaries may be mentioned the southern Melawi with
its affluent the Penuh. It reaches the sea through several channels
in a wide marshy delta. The
Sambas, north of the Kapuas, is navigable in its lower course for
vessels drawing 25 ft. Rivers lying to the south of the Kapuas, but
of less importance in the way of size, commerce and navigation, are
the Simpang, Pawan and Kandawangan, in the neighbourhood of whose
mouths, or upon the adjacent coast, the principal native villages
are situated in each case. The Barito, which is the principal river
of the southern versant, takes its rise in the Kuti Lama Lake, and
falls into the Java Sea in 114°
30' E. Its upper reaches are greatly impeded by rocks, rapids and
waterfalls, but the lower part of its course is wide, and traverses
a rich, alluvial district, much of which is marshy. Cross branches
unite it with two rivers of considerable size towards the west, the
Kapuas Murung or Little Dyak, and the Kahayan or Great Dyak. The
Katingan or Mendawei, the Sampit, Pembuang or Surian and the Kota
Waringin are rivers that fall into the sea farther to the west. The
rivers of the southern versant are waters of capacious drainage,
the basin of the Kahayan having, for instance, an area of z 6,000
sq. m., and the Barito one of 38,000 sq. m. These rivers are
navigable for two-thirds of their course by steamers of a fair
size, but in many cases the bars at their mouths present
considerable difficulties to ships drawing anything over 8 or 9 ft.
Most of the larger affluents of the Barito are also navigable
throughout the IV. 9 A B - 0 5 Nffth= atuna=
-. Bal:abatakan- - o-r Gia: P_ir:t_er-n.os.te ?

greater part of their courses. The south-eastern like the
northwestern corner of the island is watered by a considerable
number of short mountain streams. The one great river of the
eastern versant is the Kutei or Mahakan, which, rising in the
central mountains, flows east with a sinuous course and falls by
numerous mouths into the Straits of Macassar. At a great distance from its mouth
it has still a depth of three fathoms, and in all its physical
features it is comparable to the Kapuas and Barito. The Kayan or
Bulungan river is the only other in the eastern versant that calls
for mention. Most of the rivers of the northern versant are
comparatively small, as the island narrows into a kind of
promontory. Of these the Kinabatangan in the territory of British
North Borneo is the most important. Lakes are neither numerous nor
very large. In most cases they are more fittingly described as
swamps. In the flood area of the
upper Kapuas, of which mention has already been made, there occurs
Lake Luar, and there are several lake expanses of a similar
character in the basins of the Barito and Kutei rivers. The only
really fine natural harbour in the island of which any use has been
made is that of Sandakan, the principal settlement of the North
Borneo Company on the north coast.

The geology of Borneo is very imperfectly known The mountain
range which lies between Sarawak and the Dutch possessions, and may
be looked upon as the backbone of the island, consists chiefly of
crystalline schists,
together with slates, sandstones and limestones. All these beds are
much disturbed and folded. The sedimentary deposits were formerly
believed to be Palaeozoic, but Jurassic fossils have since been found in
them, and it is probable that several different formations are
represented. Somewhat similar rocks appear to form the axis of the
range in south-east Borneo, and possibly of the Tampatung
Mountains. But the Muller range, the Madi plateau, and the Schwaner
Mountains of west Borneo, consist chiefly of almost undisturbed
sedimentary and volcanic rocks of Tertiary age. The low-lying country between
the mountain ranges is covered for the most part by Tertiary and Quaternary deposits, but
Cretaceous beds occur at several
localities. Some of the older rocks of the mountain regions have
been referred to the Devonian, but the evidence cannot be
considered conclusive. Vertebraria and
Phyllotheca, plants characteristic of the Indian Gondwana series, have been
recorded in Sarawak; and marine forms, similar to those of the
lower part of the Australian Carboniferous system, are stated
to occur in the limestone of north Borneo. Pseudomonotis
salinaria, a Triassic form, has been noted from the
schists of the west of Borneo. In the Kapoewas district radiolarian
cherts supposed to be of Jurassic age are met with. Undoubted
Jurassic fossils, belonging to several horizons, have been
described from west Borneo and Sarawak. The Cretaceous beds, which
have long been known in west Borneo, are comparatively little
disturbed. They consist for the most part of marls with
Orbitolina concava, and are referred to the Cenomanian.
Cretaceous beds of somewhat later date are - found in the Marpapura
district in south-east Borneo. The Tertiary system includes
conglomerates, sandstones, limestones and marls, which appear to be
of Eocene, Oligocene and
Miocene age. They contain
numerous seams of coal. The
Tertiary beds generally lie nearly horizontal and form the lower
hills, but in the Madi plateau and the Schwaner range they rise to
a height of several thousand feet. Volcanic rocks of Tertiary and
late Cretaceous age are extensively developed, especially in the
Muller Mountains. The whole of this consists of tuffs and lavas,
andesites prevailing in the west and rhyolites and dacites in the
east.

Minerals

The mineral wealth of Borneo is great and varied. It includes
diamonds, the majority of which, however, are of a somewhat yellow
colour, gold, quicksilver, cinnabar, copper, iron, tin, antimony, mineral oils, sulphur, rock-salt, marble
and coal. The exploitation of the mines suffers in many cases from
the difficulties and expense of transport, the high duties payable
in Dutch Borneo to the native princes, the competition among the
rival companies, and often the limited quantities of the minerals
found in the mines. The districts of Sambas and Landak in the west,
the Kahayan river, the mountain valleys of the extreme south-east
and parts of Sarawak furnish the largest quantities of gold, which
is obtained for the most part from alluvial washings. The Borneo
Company is engaged in working gold-mines in the upper part of the
Sarawak valley, and the prospects of the enterprise, which is
conducted on a fairly extensive scale, are known to be encouraging.
Diamonds are also found widely distributed and mainly in the same
regions as the gold. The Kapuas valley has so far yielded the
largest quantity, and Pontianak is, for diamonds, the principal
port of export.

Considerable progress has been made in the development of the
oil-fields in Dutch Borneo, and the Nederlandsch Indische
Industrie en Handel Maatschappij, the Dutch business of the Shell Transport and Trading
Company, increased its output from 123,50 tons in 1901 to 285,720
tons in 1 9 04, and showed further satisfactory increase
thereafter. This company owns extensive oil-fields at Balik Papan
and Sanga-Sanga. The quality of the oil varies in a remarkable way
according to the depth. The upper stratum is struck at a depth of
600 to 700 ft., and yields a natural liquid fuel of heavy specific gravity. The next source is
met with at about 1 200 ft., yielding an oil which is much lighter
in weight and, as such, more suitable for treatment in the
refinery. The former oil is almost invariably of an asphalte basis,
whereas the latter sometimes is found to contain a considerable
percentage of paraffinwax. The average daily production is
very high, owing to a large number of the wells flowing under the natural pressure of the
gas. There is every reason to
believe that the oil-fields of Dutch Borneo have a great future.
Coal mines have, in many instances, been opened and abandoned,
failure being due to the difficulty of production. Coal of good
quality has been found in Pengaron and elsewhere in the Banjermasin
district, but most Borneo coal is considerably below this average
of excellence. It has also been found in fair quantities at various
places in the Kutei valley and in Sarawak. The coalmines of Labuan
have been worked spasmodically, but success has never attended the
venture. Sadong yields something under 130 tons a day, and the
Brooketown mine, the property of the raja of Sarawak, yields some
50 tons a day of rather indifferent coal. The discovery that Borneo
produced antimony was made in 1825 by John Crawfurd, the orientalist, who
learned in that year that a quantity had been brought to Singapore by a native
trader as ballast. The
supply is practically unlimited and widely distributed. The
principal mine is at Bidi in Sarawak.

Climate and Health

As is to be anticipated, having regard to its insular position
and to the fact that the equator passes through the very middle of the
island, the climate is at once hot and very damp. In the hills and in the interior regions are
found which may almost be described as temperate, but on the coasts
the atmosphere is
dense, humid and oppressive. Throughout the average temperature is
from 78° to 80° F., but the thermometer rarely falls below 70°,
except in the hills, and occasionally on exceptional days mounts as
high as 96° in the shade. The rainy westerly winds (S.W. and N.W.) prevail at all
the meteorological stations, not the comparatively dry south-east
wind. Even at Banjermasin, near the south coast, the north-west
wind brings annually a rainfall of 60 in., as against 33 in. of rain carried by the south-east wind.
The difference between the seasons is not rigidly marked. The
climate is practically unchanging all the year round, the
atmosphere being uniformly moist, and though days of continuous
downpour are rare, comparatively few days pass without a shower.
Most rain falls between November and May, and at this season the
torrents are tremendous while they last, and squalls of wind are
frequent and violent, almost invariably preceding a downpour. Over
such an extensive area there is, of course, great variety in the
climatic character of different districts, especially when viewed
in relation to health. Some places, such as Bidi in Sarawak, for
instance, are notoriously unhealthy; but from the statistics of the Dutch
government, and the records of Sarawak and British North Borneo, it
would appear that the European in Borneo has in general not
appreciably more to fear than his fellow in Java, or in the
Federated Malay
States of the Malayan Peninsula. Among the native races the
prevailing diseases, apart from those of a malarial origin, are
chiefly such as arise from bad and insufficient food, from
intemperance, and from want of cleanliness. The habit of allowing
their meat to putrefy before
regarding it as fit for food, and of encouraging children of tender age to drink to intoxication,
accounts for absence of old folk and the heavy mortality which are
to be observed among the Muruts of British North Borneo and some of
the other more debased tribes of the interior of the island. Scrofula and various forms of
lupus are common among the
natives throughout the country and especially in the interior; elephantiasis is
frequently met with on the coast. Smallpox, dysentery and fevers, frequently of a bilious
character, are endemic and occasionally epidemic. Cholera breaks out from time to
time and works great havoc, as was the case in 1903 when one of the
raja of Sarawak's punitive expeditions was stricken while ascending
the Limbang river by boat, and
lost many hundreds of its numbers before the coast could be
regained. Ophthalmia is common and sometimes will attack whole
tribes. About one sixth of the native population of the interior,
and a smaller proportion of those living on the coast, suffer from
a kind of ringworm called
kurap, which also prevails almost universally among the Sakai and Semang, the aboriginal hill tribes of the
Malayan Peninsula. The disease is believed to be aggravated by
chronic anaemia. Consumption is not
uncommon.

The fauna of Borneo comprises a large variety of species, many
of which are numerically of great importance. Among the quadrupeds
the most remarkable is the orang-utan (Malay, orang Man, i.e.jungle man), as the huge ape, called mias or
mdyas by the natives, is named by Europeans. Numerous
species of monkey are found in
Borneo, including the wahwah, a kind of gibbon, a creature far more human in appearance
and habits than the orang-utan, and several Semnopitheci,
such as the long-nosed ape and the golden-black or
chrysomelas. The largeeyed Stenops tardigradus
also deserves mention. The larger beasts of prey are not met with, and little check is
therefore put on the natural fecundity of the graminivorous
species. A small panther and
the clouded tiger (so called) -
Fe/is macroscelis- are the largest animals of the cat kind that occur in Borneo. The Bengal tiger is not found. The
Malay or honey-bear is very common. The rhinoceros and the elephant both occur in the northern part of
the island, though both are somewhat rare, and in this connexion it
should be noted that the distribution of quadrupeds as between
Borneo, Sumatra and the
Malayan Peninsula is somewhat peculiar and seemingly somewhat
capricious. Many quadrupeds, such as the honey-bear and the
rhinoceros, are common to all, but while the tiger is common both
in the Malayan Peninsula and in Sumatra, it does not occur in
Borneo; the elephant, so common in the peninsula, and found in
Borneo, is unknown in Sumatra; and the orang-utan, so plentiful in
parts of Borneo and parts of Sumatra, has never been discovered in
the Malay
Peninsula. It has been suggested, but with very scant measure
of probability, that the existence of elephants in Borneo, whose
confinement to a single district is remarkable and unexplained, is
due to importation; and the fact is on record that when Magellan's
ships visited Brunei in 1522 tame elephants were in use at the
court of the sultan of Brunei.
Wild oxen of the Sunda race, not to be in any way confounded with
the Malayan seladang or gaur, are rare, but the whole country swarms with
wild swine, and the babirusa, a pig with curious horn-like tusks, is not uncommon. Alligators are
found in most of the rivers, and the gavial is less frequently met
with. Three or four species of deer are common, including the mouse-deer, or plandok, an animal of
remarkable grace and beauty, about the size of a hare but considerably less heavy. Squirrels,
flying-squirrels, porcupines, civet-cats, rats, bats, flying-foxes and lizards
are found in great variety; snakes of various kinds, from the boa-constrictor downward, are abundant, while the
forests swarm with tree-leeches,
and the marshes with horse-leeches and frogs. A remarkable flying-frog was discovered by Professor A.
R. Wallace. Birds are somewhat rare in some quarters. The most
important are eagles, kites, vultures, falcons, owls, horn-bills,
cranes, pheasants (notably the
argus, fire-back and peacock-pheasants), partridges,
ravens, crows, parrots, pigeons, woodpeckers, doves, snipe, quail and swallows. Of most of these birds
several varieties are met with. The Cypselus esculentus, or edible-nestswift, is very common, and the nests, which are
built mostly in limestone caves, are esteemed the best in the archipelago. Mosquitoes
and sand-flies are the chief insect pests, and in some districts are very
troublesome. Several kinds of parasitic jungle ticks cause much annoyance to men and to beasts.
There are also two kinds of ants, the semut dpi (" fire ant") and the semut ldda ("pepper ant"), whose bites are
peculiarly painful. Hornets, bees and wasps of many varieties
abound. The honey and the wax of the wild bee are collected by the natives. Butterflies and
moths are remarkable for their number, size, variety and beauty.
Beetles are no less numerously represented, as is to be expected in
a country so richly wooded as Borneo. The swamps and rivers, as
well as the surrounding seas, swarm with fish. The siawan is a species of fish
found in the rivers and valued for its spawn, which is salted. The
natives are expert and
ingenious fishermen. Turtles, trepang and pearl-shell are of some commercial
importance.

The dog, the cat, the pig, the
domestic fowl (which is not very
obviously related to the bantam of the woods), the buffalo, a smaller breed than that met with in
the Malayan Peninsula, and in some districts bullocks of the
Brahmin breed and small horses, are the principal domestic animals.
The character of the country and the nomadic habits of many of the
natives of the interior, who rarely occupy their villages for more
than a few years in succession, have not proved favourable to pastoral modes of life. The
buffaloes are used not only in agriculture, but also as beasts of burden, as draught-animals and
for the saddle. Horses,
introduced by Europeans and owned only by the wealthier classes,
are found in Banjermasin and in Sarawak. In British North Borneo,
and especially in the district of Tempasuk on the north-west coast,
Borneo ponies, bred originally, it is supposed, from the stock
which is indigenous to the Sulu archipelago, are common.

The flora of Borneo is very rich, the greater portion of the
surface of the island being clothed in luxuriant vegetation. The
king of the forest is the tapan, which, rising to a great
height without fork or branch,
culminates in a splendid dome of
foliage. The official seats of some of the chiefs are constructed
from the wood of this tree. Iron-wood, remarkable for the durability of
its timber, is abundant; it is
used by the natives for the pillars of their homes and forms an
article of export, chiefly to HongKong. It is rivalled in hardness
by the kdyu tembesu. In all, about sixty kinds of timber
of marketable quality are furnished in more or less profusion, but
the difficulty of extraction, even in the regions situated in close
proximity to the large waterways, renders it improbable that the
timber trade of Borneo will attain to any very great dimensions
until other and easier sources of supply have become exhausted. Palm-trees are abundant in great
variety, including the nipah, which is much used for
thatching, the cabbage, fan, sugar, coco and sago palms. The last two furnish large supplies of
food to the natives, some copra
is exported, and sago factories, mostly in the hands of Chinese,
prepare sago for the Dutch and British markets. Gutta-percha
(getah percha in the vernacular), camphor, cinnamon, cloves, nutmegs, gambir and betel, or
areca-nuts, are all produced in the island; most of the tropical
fruits flourish, including the much-admired but, to the
uninitiated, most evil-smelling durian, a large fruit with an exceedingly strong outer covering
composed of stout pyramidal spikes, which grows upon the branches
of a tall tree and occasionally in falling inflicts considerable
injuries upon passers-by. Yams, several kinds of sweet potatoes,
melons, pumpkins, cucumbers, pineapples, bananas and mangosteens
are cultivated, as also are a large number of other fruits. Rice is grown in irrigated lands near
the rivers and in the swamps, and also in rude clearings in the
interior; sugar-cane of superior
quality in Sambas and Montrado; cotton, sometimes exported in small quantities,
on the banks of the Negara, a tributary of the Barito; tobacco, used very largely now
in the production of cigars, in various parts of northern Borneo;
and tobacco for native consumption, which is of small commercial
importance, is cultivated in most parts of the island. Indigo, coffee and pepper have been cultivated since
1855 in the western division of Dutch Borneo. Among the more
beautiful of the flowering plants are rhododendrons, orchids and .pitcher-plants -
the latter reaching extraordinary development, especially in the
northern districts about Kinabalu. Epiphytous plants are very
common, many that are usually independent assuming here the
parasitic character; the Vanda lowii, for example, grows
on the lower branches of trees, and its strange pendent flower-stalks often hang down so
as almost to reach the ground. Ferns are abundant, but not so
varied as in Java.

Population

The population of Borneo is not known with any approach to
accuracy, but according to the political divisions of the island it
is estimated as follows: Dutch Borneo. British North Borneo .

Sarawak Brunei .

No effective census of the
population has ever been taken, and vast areas in Dutch Borneo and
in British North Borneo remain unexplored, and free from any
practical authority or control. In Sarawak, owing to the high
administrative genius of the first raja and his successor, the
natives have been brought far more completely under control, but
the raja has never found occasion to utilize the machinery of his
government for the accurate enumeration of his subjects.

Dutch Borneo is divided for administrative purposes into two
divisions, the western and the south and eastern respectively. Of
the two, the former is under the more complete and effective
control. The estimated population in the western division is
413,000 and in the south and eastern 717,000. Europeans number
barely 100o; Arabs about 3000,
and Chinese, mainly in the western division, over 40,000. In both
divisions there is an average density of little more than 1 to every 2 sq. m.
The sparseness of the population throughout the Dutch territory is
due to a variety of causes - to the physical character of the
country, which for the most part restricts the area of population
to the near neighbourhood of the rivers; to the low standard of
civilization to which the majority of the natives have attained and
the consequent disregard of sanitation and hygiene; to wars, piracy and head-hunting, the last of which has not
even yet been effectually checked among some of the tribes of the
interior; and to the aggression and oppressions in earlier times of
Malayan, Arab and Bugis
settlers. Among the natives, more especially of the interior, an
innate restlessness which leads to a life of spasmodic nomadism,
poverty, insufficient nourishment, an incredible improvidence which
induces them to convert into intoxicating liquor a large portion of
their annual crops, feasts of a semi-religious
character which are invariably accompanied by prolonged drunken
orgies, and certain superstitions which necessitate the frequent procuration of abortion, have contributed to
check the growth of population. In Sambas, Montrado and some parts
of Pontianak, the greater density of the population is due to the
greater fertility of the soil, the opening of mines, the navigation
and trade plied on the larger rivers, and the concentration of the
population at the junctions of rivers, the mouths of rivers and the
seats of government. Of the chief place in the western division,
Pontianak has about 9000 inhabitants; Sambas about 8000; Montrado,
Mampawa and Landak between 2000 and 4000 each; and in the south and
eastern division there are Banjermasin with nearly 50,000
inhabitants; Marabahan, Amuntai, Negara, Samarinda and Tengarung
with populations of from 5000 to io,000 inhabitants each. In
Amuntai and Martapura early Hindu colonization, of which the traces
and the influence still are manifest, the fertile soil, trade and industry
aided by navigable rivers, have co-operated towards the growth of
population to a degree which presents a marked contrast to the
conditions in the interior parts of the Upper Barito and of the
more westerly rivers. Only a very small proportion of the Europeans
in Dutch Borneo live by agriculture and industry, the great
majority of them being officials. The Arabs and Chinese are engaged
in trading, mining, fishing and agriculture. Of the natives fully
90% live by agriculture, which, however, is for the most part of a
somewhat primitive description. The industries of the natives are
confined to such crafts as spinning and weaving and dyeing, the manufacture of iron weapons and
implements, boatand shipbuilding, &c. More particularly in
the southeastern division, and especially in the districts of
Negara, Banjermasin, Amuntai and Martapura, shipbuilding,
ironforging, goldand silversmith's work, and the polishing of
diamonds, are industries of high development in the larger centres
of population.

Races

The peoples of Borneo belong to a considerable variety of races,
of different origin and degrees of civilization. The most important
numerically are the Dyaks, the
Dusuns and Muruts of the interior, the Malays, among whom must be counted such Malayan
tribes as the Bajaus, Ilanuns, &c., the Bugis, who were
originally immigrants from Celebes, and the Chinese. The Dutch, and
to a minor extent the Arabs, are of importance on account of their
political influence in Dutch Borneo, while the British communities
have a similar importance in Sarawak and in British North Borneo.
Accounts of the Malays, Dyaks and Bugis are given under their
several headings, and some information concerning the Dusuns and
Muruts will be found in the section below, which deals with British
North Borneo. The connexion of the Chinese with Borneo calls for
notice here. They seem to have been the first civilized people who
had dealings with Borneo, if the colonization of a portion of the
south-eastern corner of the island by Hindus be excepted. The
Chinese annals speak of tribute paid to the empire by Pha-la on the
north-east coast of the island as early as the 7th century, and
later documents mention a Chinese colonization in the 15th century.
The traditions of the Malays and Dyaks seem to confirm the
statements, and many of the leading families of Brunei in
north-west Borneo claim to have Chinese blood in their veins, while the annals of Sulu
record an extensive Chinese immigration about 1575. However this may
be, it is certain that the flourishing condition of Borneo in the
16th and 17th centuries was largely due to the energy of Chinese
settlers and to trade with China. In the 18th century there was a
considerable Chinese population settled in Brunei, engaged for the
most part in planting and exporting pepper, but the consistent
oppression of the native rajas destroyed their industry and led
eventually to the practical extirpation of the Chinese. The Malay
chiefs of other districts encouraged immigration from China with a
view to developing the mineral resources of their territories, and
before long Chinese settlers were to be found in considerable
numbers in Sambas, Montrado, Pontianak and elsewhere. They were at
first forbidden to engage in commerce or agriculture, to carry
firearms, to possess or manufacture gunpowder. About 1779 the Dutch acquired
immediate authority over all strangers, and thus assumed
responsibility for the control of the Chinese, who presently proved
themselves somewhat troublesome. Their numbers constantly increased
and were reinforced by new immigrants, and pushing inland in search
of fresh mineral-bearing areas, they contracted frequent
intermarriages with the Dyaks and other non-Mahommedan natives.
They brought with them from China their aptitude for the
organization of secret societies which, almost from the first,
assumed the guise of political
associations. These secret societies furnished them with a
machinery whereby collective action was rendered easy, and under
astute leaders they offered a formidable opposition to the Dutch
government. Later, when driven into the interior and eventually out
of Dutch territory, they cost the first raja of Sarawak some severe
contests before they were at last reduced to obedience. Serious
disturbances among the Chinese are now in Borneo matters of ancient
history, and to-day the Chinaman forms perhaps the most valuable
element in the civilization and development of the island, just as
does his fellow in the mining states of the Malayan Peninsula. They
are industrious, frugal and intelligent; the richer among them are
excellent men of business and are peculiarly equitable in their
dealings; the majority of all classes can read and write their own
script, and the second generation acquires an education of an
European type with great facility. The bulk of the shopkeeping,
trading and mining industries, so long as the mining is of an
alluvial character, is in Chinese hands. The greater part of the
Chinese on the west coast are originally drawn from the boundaries
of Kwang-tung and Kwang-si. They are called
Kehs by the Malays, and are of the same tribes as those which
furnish the bulk of the workers to the tin mines of the Malay
Peninsula. They are a rough and hardy people, and are. 1,130,000
200,000 500,000 20,000 apt at times to be turbulent. The
shopkeeping class comes mostly from Fuh-kien and the coast
districts of Amoy. They are known
to the Borneans as 0110hs.

History

As far as is known, Borneo never formed a political unity, and
even its geographical unity as an island is a fact unappreciated by
the vast majority of its native inhabitants. The name of Kalamantan
has been given by some Europeans (on what original authority it is
not possible now to ascertain) as the native name for the island of
Borneo considered as a whole; but it is safe to aver that among the
natives of the island itself Borneo has never borne any general
designation. To this day, among the natives of the Malayan
Archipelago, men speak of going to Pontianak, to Sambas or to
Brunei, as the case may be, but make use of no term which
recognizes that these localities are part of a single whole. The
only archaeological remains are a few Hindu temples, and it is
probable that the early settlement of the south-eastern portion of
the island by Hindus dates from some time during the first six
centuries of our era. There exist, however, no data, not even any
trustworthy tradition, from which to reconstruct the early history
of Borneo. Borneo began to be known to Europeans after the fall of
Malacca in 1511, when Alphonso d'Albuquerque
despatched Antonio d'Abreu with three ships in search of the
Molucca or Spice Islands with instructions to establish friendly
relations with all the native states that he might encounter on his
way. D'Abreu, sailing in a southeasterly direction from the Straits
of Malacca, skirted the southern coast of Borneo and laid up his
ships at Amboyna, a small
island near the south-western extremity of Ceram. He returned to Malacca in 1514, leaving
one of his captains,
Francisco Serrano, at Ternate, where Magellan's followers found him
in 1521. After Magellan's death, his comrades sailed from the Moluccas across the Celebes
into the Sulu Sea, and were the first white men who are known to
have visited Brunei on the north-west coast of Borneo, where they
arrived in 1522. Pigafetta gives an interesting account of the
place and of the reception of the adventurers by the sultan. The
Molucca Islands being, at that time, the principal objective of European
traders, and the route followed by - Magellan's ships being
frequently used, Borneo was often touched at during the remainder
of the 16th century, and trade relations with Brunei were
successfully established by the Portuguese. In 1573 the Spaniards
tried somewhat unsuccessfully to obtain a share of this commerce,
but it was not until 1580, when a dethroned sultan appealed to them
for asistance and by their agency was restored to his own, that
they attained their object. Thereafter the Spaniards maintained a
fitful intercourse with Brunei, varied by not infrequent
hostilities, and in 1645 a punitive expedition on a larger scale
than heretofore was sent to chastise Brunei for persistent acts of
piracy. No attempt at annexation followed upon this action,
commerce rather than territory being at this period the prime
object of both the Spaniards and the Portuguese, whose influence
upon the natives was accordingly proportionately small. The only
effort at proselytizing of which we have record came to an untimely
end in the death of the Theatine monk, Antonio Ventimiglia, who had been its originator.
Meanwhile the Dutch and British EastIndia Companies had been formed, had destroyed
the monopoly so long
enjoyed by the Portuguese, and to a less extent the Spaniards, in
the trade of the Malayan Archipelago, and had gained a footing in
Borneo. The establishment of Dutch trading-posts on the west coast
of Borneo dates from 1604, nine years after the first Dutch fleet,
under Houtman, sailed from the Texel to dispute with the Portuguese
the possession of the Eastern trade, and in 1608 Samuel Blommaert was appointed Dutch resident,
or head factor, in Landak and Sukedana. The first appearance of the
British in Borneo dates from 1609, and by 1698 they had an
important settlement at Banjermasin, whence they were subsequently
expelled by the influence of the Dutch, who about 1733 obtained
from the sultan a trading monopoly. The Dutch, in fact, speedily
became the predominant European race throughout the Malay
Archipelago, defeating the British by superior energy and
enterprise, and the trading-posts all along the western and
southern coasts of Borneo were presently their exclusive
possessions, the sultan of Bantam, who was the overlord of these
districts, ceding his rights to the Dutch. The British meanwhile
had turned their attention to the north of the island, over which
the sultan of Sulu exercised the rights of suzerain, and from him,
in 1759, Alexander Dalrymple obtained possession of the island of
Balambangan, and the whole of the north-eastern promontory. A
military post was established, but it was destroyed in 1775 by the
natives under the ddto', or vassal chiefs, who resented the cession of their
territory. This mishap rendered a treaty, which had been concluded
in 1774 with the sultan of Brunei, practically a dead letter, and
by the end of the century British influence in Borneo was to all
intents and purposes at an end. The Dutch also mismanaged their
affairs in Borneo and suffered from a series of misfortunes which
led Marshal Daendels in 1809 to order the abandonment of all their posts. The natives
of the coasts of Borneo, assisted and stimulated by immigrants from
the neighbouring islands to the north, devoted themselves more and
more to organized piracy, and putting to sea in great fleets manned
by two and three thousand men on cruises that lasted for two and
even three years, they terrorized the neighbouring seas and
rendered the trade of civilized nations almost impossible for a
prolonged period. During the occupation of Java by the British an
embassy was despatched to Sir Stamford Raffles by the
sultan of Banjermasin asking for assistance, and in 1811 Alexander
Hare was despatched thither as commissioner and resident. He not
only obtained for his government an advantageous treaty, but
secured for himself a grant of a district which he proceeded to
colonize and cultivate. About the same time a British expedition
was also sent against Sambas and a post established at Pontianak.
On the restoration of Java to the Dutch in 1816, all these
arrangements were cancelled, and the Dutch government was left in
undisputed possession of the field. An energetic policy was soon
after adopted, and about half the kingdoml of Banjermasin was
surrendered to the Dutch by its sultan in 1823, further concessions
being made two years later. Meanwhile, George Muller, while exploring the east
coast, obtained from the sultan of Kutei an acknowledgment of
Dutch authority, a concession speedily repented by its donor, since
the enterprising traveller was shortly afterwards killed. The
outbreak of war in Java caused Borneo to be more or less neglected
by the Dutch for a considerable period, and no effective check was
imposed upon the natives with a view to stopping piracy, which was
annually becoming more and more unendurable. On the rise of
Singapore direct trade had been established with Sarawak and
Brunei, and it became a matter of moment to British merchants that
this traffic should be safe. In 1838 Sir James Brooke, an Englishman, whose
attention had been turned to the state of affairs in the Eastern
Archipelago, set out for Borneo, determined, if possible, to remedy
the evil. By 1841 he had obtained from the sultan of Brunei the
grant of supreme authority over Sarawak, in which state, on the
sultan's behalf, he had waged a successful war, and before many
years had elapsed he had, with the aid of the British government,
succeeded in suppressing piracy (see Brooke, Sir James; and Sarawak). In 1847 the sultan of
Brunei agreed to make no cession of territory to any nation or
individual without the consent of Great Britain. Since then more and more territory has
been ceded by the sultans of Brunei to the raja of Sarawak and to
British North Borneo, and to-day the merest remnant of his once
extensive state is left within the jurisdiction of the sultan. The
treaty in 1847 put an end once for all to the hopes which the Dutch
had cherished of including the whole island in their dominions, but
it served also to stimulate their efforts to consolidate their
power within the sphere already subjected to their influence.
Gunong Tebur, Tanjong, and Bulungan had made nominal submission to
them in 1834, and in 1844 the sultan of Kutei acknowledged their protectorate, a
treaty of a similar character being concluded about the same time
with Pasir. The boundaries of British and Dutch Borneo were finally
defined by a treaty concluded on the 10th of June 1891. In spite of
this, however, large areas in the interior, both in Dutch Borneo
and in the territory owned by the British North Borneo Company, are
still only nominally under European control, and have experienced
few direct effects of European administration.

British North Borneo Or Sabah Sabah is the name applied by the
natives to certain portions of the territory situated on the
north-western coast of the island, and originally in no way
included the remainder of the country now owned by the British
North Borneo Company. It has become customary, however, for the
name to be used by Europeans in Borneo to denote the whole of the
company's territory, and little by little the more educated natives
are insensibly adopting the practice.

History

As has been seen, the British connexion with northern and
north-western Borneo terminated with the 18th century, nor was it
resumed until 1838, when Raja Brooke set out for Brunei and
Sarawak. The island of Labuan (q.v.) was occupied by the British as
a crown colony in 1848, and this
may be taken as the starting-point of renewed British relations
with that portion of northern Borneo which is situated to the north
of Brunei. In 1872 the Labuan Trading Company was established in
Sandakan, the fine harbour on the northern coast which was
subsequently the capital of the North Borneo Company's territory.
In 1878, through the instrumentality of Mr (afterwards Sir) Alfred
Dent, the sultan of Sulu was induced to transfer to a syndicate, formed by Baron
Overbeck and Mr Dent, all his rights in North Borneo, of which, as
has been seen, he had been from time immemorial the overlord. The
chief promoters of this syndicate were Sir
Rutherford Alcock, Admiral the Hon. Sir Harry Keppel, who at an
earlier stage of his career had rendered great assistance to the
first raja of Sarawak in the suppression of piracy, and Mr Richard
B. Martin. Early in 1881 the
British North Borneo Provisional Association, Limited, was formed
to take over the concession which had been obtained from the sultan
of Sulu, and in November of that year a petition was addressed to Queen Victoria praying for a royal
charter. This was granted, and subsequently the British North
Borneo Company, which was formed in May 1882, took over, in spite
of some diplomatic protests on the part of the Dutch and Spanish
governments, all the sovereign and territorial rights ceded by the
original grants, and proceeded under its charter to organize the
administration of the territory. The company subsequently acquired
further sovereign and territorial rights from the sultan of Brunei
and his chiefs in addition to some which had already been obtained
at the time of the formation of the company. The Putatan river was
ceded in May 1884, the Padas district, including the Padas and
Kalias rivers, in November of the same year, the Kawang river in
February 1885, and the Mantanani islands in April 1885. In 1888, by
an agreement with the "State of North Borneo," the territory of the
company was made a British protectorate, but its administration
remained entirely in the hands of the company, the crown reserving
only control of its foreign relations, and the appointment of its
governors being required to receive the formal sanction of the secretary of
state for the colonies. In 1890 the British government placed
the colony of Labuan under the administration of the company, the
governor of the state of North Borneo thereafter holding a royal
commission as governor of Labuan in addition to his commission from
the company. This arrangement held good until 1905, when, in answer
to the frequently and strongly expressed desire of the colonists,
Labuan was removed from the jurisdiction of the company and
attached to the colony of the Straits Settlements. In March 1898
arrangements were made whereby the sultan of Brunei ceded to the
company all his sovereign and territorial rights to the districts
situated to the north of the Padas river which up to that time had
been retained by him. This had the effect of rounding off the
company's territories, and had the additional advantage of doing
away with the various no-man's lands which had long been used by
the discontented among the natives as so many Caves of Adullam. The company's
acquisition of territory was viewed with considerable
dissatisfaction by many of the natives, and this found expression
in frequent acts of violence. The most noted and the most
successful of the native leaders was a Bajau named Mat Saleh (Mahomet Saleh), who for many years
defied the company, whose policy in his regard was marked by
considerable weakness and vacillation. In 1898 a composition was
made with him, the terms of which were unfortunately not defined
with sufficient clearness, and he retired into the Tambunan
country, to the east of the range which runs parallel with the west
coast, where for a period he lorded it unchecked over the Dusun
tribes of the valley. In 1899 it was found necessary to expel him,
since his acts of aggression and defiance were no longer endurable. A short,
and this time a successful campaign followed, resulting, on the
31st of January 1900, in the death of Mat Saleh, and the
destruction of his defences. Some of his followers who escaped
raided the town of Kudat on Marudu Bay in April of the same year,
but caused more panic than damage, and little by little during the
next years the last smouldering embers of rebellion were
extinguished. At the present time, though effective administration
of the more inaccessible districts of the interior cannot be said
to have been established even yet, the pacification of the native
population is to all intents and purposes complete. The Tambunan
district, the last stronghold of Mat Saleh, is now thoroughly
settled. It is some 500 sq. m. in extent, and carries a population
of perhaps 12,000.

The state of North Borneo may roughly be said to form a pentagon
of which three sides, the north-west, northeast and east are washed
by the sea, while the remaining two sides, the south-west and the
south, are bordered respectively by the Malayan sultanate of
Brunei, and by the territories of the raja of Sarawak and of the
Dutch government. The boundary between the company's territory and
the Dutch government is defined by the treaty concluded in June
1891, of which mention has already been made.

The total area of the company's territory is estimated at about
31,000 sq. m., with a coast-line of over 900 m. The greater portion
is exceedingly hilly and in parts mountainous, and the interior
consists almost entirely of highlands with here and there open
valleys and plateaus of 50 to 60 sq. m. in extent. On the west
coast the mountain range, as already noted, runs parallel with the
seashore at a distance from it of about 15 m. Of this range the
central feature is the mountain of Kinabalu, which is composed of
porphyritic granite and
igneous rocks and attains to a height of 13,698 ft. Mount Madalon,
some 15 or 20 m. to the north, is 5000 ft. in height, and inland
across the valley of the Pagalan river, which runs through the
Tambunan country and falls into the Padas, rises the peak of Trus
Madi, estimated to be 11,000 ft. above sea-level. The valley of the
Pagalan is itself for the most part from 1000 to 2000 ft. above the
sea, forming a string of small plateaus marking the sites of former
lakes. From the base of Trus Madi to the eastern coast the country
consists of huddled hills broken here and there by regions of a
more mountainous character. The principal plateaus are in the
Tambunan and Kaningau valleys, in the basin of the Pagalan, and the
Ranau plain to the eastward of the base of Kinabalu. Similar
plateaus of minor importance are to be found dotted about the
interior. The proximity of the mountain range to the seashore
causes the rivers of the west coast, with the single exception of
the Padas, to be rapid, boulder-obstructed, shallow streams of little
value as means of communication for a distance of more than half a
dozen miles from their mouths. The Padas is navigable for
light-draught steam-launches and
native boats for a distance of nearly 50 m. from its mouth, and
smaller craft can be punted up as far as Rayoh, some 15 m. farther,
but at this point its bed is
obstructed by impassable falls and rapids, which are of such a
character that nothing can even be brought down them. Even below
Rayoh navigation is rendered difficult and occasionally dangerous
by similar obstructions. The other principal rivers of the west
coast are the Kalias, Kimanis, Benoneh, Papar, Kinarut, Putatan,
Inaman, Mengkabong, Tampasuk and Pandasan, none of which, however,
is of any great importance as a means of communication. There is a
stout breed of pony raised along
the Tampasuk, which is also noted for the Kalupis waterfall (1500 ft.), one
of the highest in the world, though the volume of water is not
great. Here also are the principal Bajau settlements. Throughout
the Malayan Archipelago the words Bajau and perompak
(pirate) are still used as synonymous terms. At the northern
extremity of the island Marudu Bay receives the waters of the
Marudu which rises on the western side of Mount Madalon. On the
east coast the principal rivers are the Sugut, which rises in the
hills to the east of Kinabalu and forms 'its delta near Torongohok
or Pura-Pura Island; the Labuk, which has its sources 70
m. inland and debouches into Labuk Bay; and the Kinabatangan, the
largest and most important river in the territory, which is
believed to have its rise eastward of the range of which Trus Madi
is the principal feature, and is navigable by steamer for a
considerable distance and by native boats for a distance of over
Too m. from its mouth. Some valuable tobacco land, which, however,
is somewhat liable to flood, and some remarkable burial-caves are found in the valley of the
Kinabatangan. The remaining rivers of the east coast are the
Segamah, which rises west of Darvel Bay, the Kumpong, and the
Kalabakang, which debouches into Cowie Harbour. Taking it as a
whole, the company's territory is much less generously watered than
are other parts of Borneo, which again compares unfavourably in
this respect with the Malayan states of the peninsula. Many of the
rivers, especially those of the west coast, are obstructed by bars
at their mouths that render them difficult of access. Several of
the natural harbours of North Borneo, on the other hand, are
accessible, safe and commodious. Sandakan Harbour, on the
north-east coast (5° 40' N., 118° To' E.), runs inland for some 17
m. with a very irregular outline broken by the mouths of numerous
creeks and streams. The mouth, only 2 m. across, is split into two
channels by the little, high, blufflike island of Barhala. The
depth in the main entrance varies from 10 to 17 fathoms, and
vessels drawing 20 ft. can advance half-way up the bay. The
principal town in the territory, and the seat of government (though
an attempt has been unsuccessfully made to transfer this to
Jesselton on the west coast), is Sandakan, situated just inside the
mouth of the Sarwaka inlet. At Silam, on Darvel Bay, there is good
anchorage; and Kudat in Marudu Bay, first surveyed by Commander Johnstone of H.M.S. "Egeria" in 1881, is a small but
useful harbour.

Climate and Population

The climate of North Borneo is tropical, hot, damp and
enervating. The rainfall is steady and not usually excessive. The
shade temperature at Sandakan ordinarily ranges from 72° to 94° F.
The population of the company's territory is not known with any
approach to accuracy, but is estimated, somewhat liberally, to
amount to 17 5,000, including 16,000 Chinese. Of this total about
three-fourths are found in the districts of the west coast. The
seashore and the country bordering closely on the west coast are
inhabited chiefly by Dusuns, by Kadayans, by Bajaus and Ilanuns -
both Malayan tribes - and by Brunei Malays. The east coast is very
sparsely populated and its inhabitants are mostly Bajaus and
settlers from the neighbouring Sulu archipelago. The interior is
dotted with infrequent villages inhabited by Dusuns or by Muruts, a
village ordinarily consisting of a single long hut divided up into
cubicles, one for the use of each family, opening out on to a
common verandah along
which the skulls captured by the tribe are festooned. It has been
customary to speak of these tribes as belonging to the Dyak group,
but the Muruts would certainly seem to be the representatives of
the aboriginal inhabitants of the island, and there is much reason
to think that the Dusuns also must be classed as distinct from the
Dyaks. The Dusun language, it is interesting to note, presents very
curious grammatical complications and refinements such as are not
to be found among the tongues spoken by any of the other peoples of
the Malayan Archipelago or the mainland of south-eastern Asia. Dusuns and Muruts alike are in
a very low state of civilization, and both indulge inordinately in
the use of intoxicating liquors of their own manufacture.

Settlements and Communication

The company possesses a number of small stations along the
coast, of which Sandakan, with a population of 9500, is the most
important. The remainder which call for separate mention are Lahat
Datu on Darvel Bay on the east coast; Kudat on Marudu Bay and
Jesselton on Gaya Bay on the west
coast. A railway of
indifferent construction runs along the west coast from Jesselton
to Weston on Brunei Bay, with a branch along the banks of the Padas
to Tenom above the rapids. It was originally intended that this
should eventually be extended across the territory to Cowie Harbour
(Sabuko Bay) on the east coast, but the extraordinary engineering
difficulties which oppose themselves to such an extension, the
sparse population of the territory, and the failure of the existing
line to justify the expectations entertained by its designers,
combine to render the prosecution of any such project highly
improbable. Sandakan is connected by telegraph with Mempakul on the west coast
whence a cable runs to Labuan
and so gives telegraphic communication with Singapore. The overland
line from Mempakul to Sandakan, however, passes through forest-clad
and very difficult country, and telegraphic communication is
therefore subject to very frequent interruption. Telegraphic
communication 'between Mempakul and Kudat, via Jesselton, has also
been established and is more regularly and successfully maintained.
The only roads in the territory are bridle-paths in the immediate
vicinity of the company's principal stations. The Sabah Steamship
Company, subsidized by the Chartered Company, runs steamers along
the coast, calling at all the company's stations at which native
produce is accumulated. A German firm runs vessels at approximately
bi-monthly intervals from Singapore to Labuan and thence to
Sandakan, calling in on occasion at Jesselton and Kudat en
route. There is also fairly frequent communication between
Sandakan and Hong-Kong,
a journey of four days' steaming.

Products and Trade

The capabilities of the company's territory are only dimly
known. Coal has been found in the neighbourhood of Cowie Harbour
and elsewhere, but though its quality is believed to be as good as
that exported from Dutch Borneo, it is not yet known whether it
exists in payable quantities. Gold has been found in alluvial
deposits on the banks of some of the rivers of the east coast, but
here again the quantity available is still in serious doubt. The
territory as a whole has been very imperfectly examined by
geologists, and no opinion can at present be hazarded as to the
mineral wealth or poverty of the company's property. Traces of
mineral oil, iron ores, copper, zinc and antimony have been found, but the wealth
of North Borneo still lies mainly in its jungle produce. It
possesses a great profusion of excellent timber, but the difficulty
of extraction has so far restricted the lumber industry within somewhat modest limits.
Gutta, rubber, rattans, mangrove-bark, edible nuts, guano, edible birds'-nests, &c., are all
valuable articles of export. The principal cultivated produce is
tobacco, sago, cocoanuts, coffee, pepper, gambier and sugarcanes. Of these the tobacco
and the sago are the most important. Between 1886 and 'goo the
value of the tobacco crop
increased from £471 to £200,000.

As is common throughout Malayan lands, the trade of North Borneo
is largely in the hands of Chinese shopkeepers who send their
agents inland to attend the Tamus (Malay, temu,
to meet) or fairs, which are the recognized scenes of barter between the natives of the
interior and those of the coast. At Sandakan there is a Chinese
population of over 2000.

Administration

For administrative purposes the territory is divided into nine
provinces: Alcock and Dewhurst in the north; Keppel on the west;
Martin in the centre; Myburgh, Mayne and Elphinstone on the east
coast; and Dent and Cunliffe in the south. The boundaries of these
provinces, however, are purely arbitrary and not accurately
defined. The form of government is modelled roughly upon the system
adopted in the Malay States of the peninsula during the early days
of their administration by British residents. The government is
vested primarily in the court of directors appointed under the company's
charter, which may be compared to the colonial office in its relation to a
British colony, though the court of directors interests itself far
more closely than does the colonial department in the smaller
details of local administration. The supreme authority on the spot
is represented by the governor, under whom are the residents of
Kudat, Darvel Bay and Keppel, officers who occupy much the same
position as that usually known by the title of magistrate and collector. The less
important districts are administered by district magistrates, who
also collect the taxes. The principal departments, whose chiefs
reside at the capital, are the treasury, the land and survey, the
public works, the constabulary, the medical and the judicial. The
secretariat is under the charge of a government secretary who ranks
next in precedence to
the governor. Legislation is by the proclamation of the governor, but there is
a council, meeting at irregular intervals, upon which the principal
heads of departments and one unofficial member have seats. The
public service is recruited by nomination by the court of
directors. The governor is the chief judge of the court of appeal, but a judge who is
subordinate to him takes all ordinary supreme court cases. The
laws are the Indian Penal and Civil Procedure Codes and Evidence
Acts, supplemented by a few local laws promulgated by proclamation.
There is an Imam's court for the trial of cases affecting Mahommedan law of
marriage, succession, &c. The native chiefs are responsible to
the government for the preservation of law and order in their
districts. They have restricted judicial powers. The constabulary
numbers some 600 men and consists of a mixed force of Sikhs,
Pathans, Punjabi Mahommedans, Dyaks and Malays, officered by a few
Europeans. There is a Protestant mission which supports a church -
the only stone building in the territory - and a school at
Sandakan, with branches at Kudat, Kaningau and Tambunan. The Roman
Catholic mission maintains an orphanage, a church and school at
Sandakan, and has missions among the Dusuns at several points on
the west coast and in the Tambunan country. Its headquarters are at
Kuching in Sarawak. The Chinese have their joss-houses and the Mahommedans a few small
mosques, but the vast majority of the native inhabitants are pagans
who have no buildings set apart for religious purposes.

The principal sources of revenue are the licences granted for
the importation and retailing of opium, wine and
spirits, which are in the
hands of Chinese; a customs duty of 5% on imports; an export tax of
5 70 on jungle produce; a poll-tax sanctioned by ancient native custom;
and a stamp duty. A land revenue
is derived from the sale of government lands, from quit rents and
fees of transfer, &c. Judicial fees bring in a small amount,
and the issue and sale of postage and revenue stamps have proved a
fruitful source of income. The people of the country are by no
means heavily taxed, a large number of the natives of the interior
escaping all payment of dues to the company, the revenue being for
the most part contributed by the more civilized members of the
community residing in the neighbourhood of the company's stations.
There are bank
agencies in Sandakan, and the company does banking business when
required. The state, which has adopted the penny postage, is in the Postal Union, and money
orders on North Borneo are issued in the United Kingdom
and in most British colonies and vice versa. Notes issued by
the principal banks in Singapore were made current in North Borneo
in Igloo. There is also a government note issue issued by the
company for use within the territory only. The currency is the
Mexican and British dollar,
the company issuing its own copper coin - viz. cents and half cents. It is proposed
to adopt the coinage of the Straits Settlements, and measures have
been taken with a view to the accomplishment of this. In the
interior the principal medium of exchange among the natives is the
large earthenware jars, imported originally, it is believed, from
China, which form the chief wealth both of tribes and individuals.
(H. CL.) AuTxoRITIEs. - Among early works may be mentioned, S.
Blommaert, Discours ende ghelegentheyt van het eylandt Borneo
tint Jear 1609; Hachelyke reystogt van Jacob Jansz. de Roy na
Borneo en Atchin in het jaar 1691; Beeckman, Visit to
Borneo, 1718, in J. Pinkerton's General Collections
(1808-1814); F. Valentijn in Ond en Nieuw Oost Indian
(Dordrecht, 1724-1726). See also H. Keppel, Expedition to
Borneo of H.M.S. "Dido"
(London, 1846); R. Mundy, Narrative of Events in Borneo and
Celebes (London, 1848); F. S.

Proper
noun

Borneo is the third largest island in the world and can be found at the centre of Maritime Southeast Asia. Administratively, this island is divided between Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. Indonesia's region of Borneo is called "Kalimantan" (although Indonesians use the term for the whole island), while Malaysia's region of Borneo is called East Malaysia or Malaysian Borneo. The independent nation of Brunei occupies the remainder of the island.

Geography

Borneo is surrounded by the South China Sea to the north and northwest, the Sulu Sea to the northeast, the Celebes Sea and the Makassar Strait to the east, and the Java Sea and Karimata Strait to the south. It has an area of 743,330 km² (287,000 square miles).bjn:Pulaw Kalimantan